Joe Budden says he tried to battle DMX but it didn’t go as planned.
The former Slaughterhouse rapper is known for his colorful personality, and following a recent revelation, it seems he’s led a pretty colorful life as well. Joe Budden recently revealed that he once tried to battle the legendary DMX on the set of the 1998 Hype Williams movie Belly.
Joe Budden explained just how the encounter happened during a recent appearance on the Flip Da Script Podcast. He even gave details of how he approached the deceased rapper after he saw him shooting a scene in the film outside of his mother’s home in New Jersey.
The “Walk With Me” rapper jokingly added that he was battling DMX, but the late rapper had no trouble in taking him down.
“It was me just rapping, but he was supposed to rap. This was on — they shot [one of the scenes in] Belly outside of my mom’s building, which was Jersey City. So I caught DMX on one of them nights, but he had to go shoot a scene,” he added.
Admitting defeat at the hands of the iconic rapper, Budden also shared that the encounter helped give him the spark he needed to pursue what would become a successful career. He explained that it was after that encounter that he was able to connect with Swizz Beatz. That connection led to a decision to try and put him in a group with rappers Cassidy and Drag-On, even though that never came to fruition.
Joe Budden added that the group never materialised because it was very early in everyone’s career and nobody had made it yet. The combination at the time just didn’t work, he added. Even so, he was thankful to Swizz for having a vision for his career.
“It just didn’t work. I didn’t even learn about that until a few years later. I was just coming around rhyming, maybe Swizz had plans. This was before anybody was anybody.”
His relationship with the production guru never materialized into anything but it was these early encounters that gave him the impetus to transition into working with Just Blaze, who went on to produce his 2003 breakout hit “Pump It Up.”
Even though he did not go on to work with DMX, Budden has openly revealed that he has nothing but respect for the Ruff Ryders legend. After his death in April 2021, he used his The Joe Budden Podcast to publicly state just that.
During that podcast, he said he had nothing but the utmost respect for DMX and the road that he paved for himself. He also shared that he always enjoyed meeting up with the “Slippin” rapper as they always hit it off.
“I was in a studio where I wasn’t supposed to be at and bumped into him. I was walking down Collins in Miami and bumped into him. I was in Atlanta somewhere and bumped into him. You could see him and speak to him — and he would talk to you! No matter what the f#ck was going on with him,” he added.
Even with all the respect he has for Swizz Beatz, they recently got into it after he co-signed a tweet claiming uncredited singer Jermaine Paul “cooked” his wife Alicia Keys on her 2004 hit “Diary.”
At the time, Swizz responded swiftly to his claim as he tweeted, “Let’s not do this ! I never get into your zones! Leave my wife out of everything but greatness! Please.”
